AI Is Not the Next Necessary Industry

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The rise of AI has been argued to be the logical step in society’s technological advancements; looking at popular movies, books, and T.V shows it’s easy to see why. Westworld, The Terminator, Star Trek, the list goes on in science fiction. The future is robots and AI and everything automated, we’ve seen it on our screens. 


But unlike many of the technological advancements we’ve made, like automobiles, the internet, or phones, AI isn’t filling a needed gap. Cars filled the need for faster transportation. The internet filled the need for an information hub and archive. Phones filled the need for quick communication. What is AI filling the need for?


One could argue it’s filling the need for time; that AI takes on busy work for people so they can have more time. Yet so much of AI that’s used everyday isn’t for menial tasks, it’s been used to replace creative jobs entirely, or to create fake videos or photos. While it’s had its uses in some areas, AI isn’t a necessary technological advancement for our society. It’s already posing numerous issues like stunting cognitive growth and thinking, or making people question what’s truth from fiction in the media. More than that, the AI industry is extremely harmful to communities because of how much freshwater, land, and electricity it consumes. 


People have argued that it takes up the same amount of resources as other technological advancements, like internet search engines or the car industry. And while the harm they cause should not be excused or ignored, we come back to the original point: unlike AI, those advancements have tangible gaps they have filled. If we as a society are already consuming resources at ridiculous levels, which we are, we should be working towards harm reduction; not giving up more resources for an unnecessary tool. 


To learn more about the amount of resources AI consumes, check out these articles!

Legacy Post: Artificial intelligence and the environment: Putting the numbers into perspective

Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 



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